Myriam Ababsa

Myriam Ababsa is an associate research fellow in Social Geography at the Ifpo in Amman and a consultant. Her work focuses on the impact of public policies on regional and urban development in Jordan and Syria. She questions governance, public participation in housing policies and services delivery. She holds a PhD in geography from the University of Tours, France (2004). She is the author of: Amman de pierre et de paix (Paris: Autrement, 2007), Raqqa, territoires et pratiques sociales d’une ville syrienne (Beirut: Ifpo, 2009) https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/1021. She has co-edited with Dr. Rami Daher, Cities, Urban Practices and Nation Building in Jordan (Beirut: Ifpo, 2011 https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/1675) and co-edited with Baudouin Dupret and Eric Denis Popular Housing andUrban Land Tenure in the Middle East (University of Cairo Press, 2012). Her last publication is the Atlas of Jordan. History, Territories, Society (Beirut: Ifpo 2013, 485 p. https://books.openedition.org/Ifpo/4560).

Research project

As the World Food Program reduces its food vouchers and the Islamic charity is not sufficient, living conditions are becoming harsher for Syrian refugees. The Jordanian government plans to open special economic zones where Syrian workers could be hired, while at the local level some mayors consider hiring refugees for waste collection. The government has no choice but to allow progressively Syrians to work, as Turkey does. Combining statistical data gathered for UNHCR Home Visit Report 2013 to fieldworks in Irbid and Amman, this project aims at documenting Syrian refugees’ informal work and coping strategies